Re: My Memories of Kinsey Distilling

Today on my 65th birthday 41 yrs since I worked there I took a walk around kinsey and found some La Conga Rum promotional point of sale pictures that vandale's had tossed down on the floor in one of the buildings. They are now safely at Kinsey East my house. I am now sipping a shot of old Hickory from a bottle sent to me by someone on this site and it is so darn Good!. It is 7 yr 86 proof and it was an export that went to Italy, and never was opened till it came back to the states and my home, thanks to a member here! I have had a great birthday and I am now drinking some great whisky its does not get any better!
Dave Z
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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

Re: My Memories of Kinsey Distilling

Here are 3 of The Pictures I took last sunday at Kinsey.
1.& 2. Jake Kinsey Warehouse H
3. The Little Scale House across from warehouse #38

The weeds are starting to turn colors for the fall as they creep all over Kinsey and its great ruin. I am going back sunday and just look for anything I can save from the Vandels hand. The pickins are slim but every now and then you find something they would destroy just to do it.

When I walk around it is often very sureal I find myself thinking back to the old 1941 Ford Trucks roaring from one warehouse with no dump troughs to one that has them. But there is no work going on and no smell of Whiskey in the air and no aging whiskey anywhere. When I was there the worlds largest amout of aging whiskey was in those old warehouses, now there is nothing. Like an old beloved Person Kinsey has died!
Dave Z
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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

Re: My Memories of Kinsey Distilling

It took 3 months and here is my Last Distillery lamp finally done and added to my Office sets!
1. My lamp arrives
2. A shot from another Angle
3. Set up on my side table next to my Red globe one.

This ficture was from one of the elevators at Kinsey with a pilot light from warehouse I. It will most likely be the last lamp I make as I have just about most of the styles of explosion proof lights at Kinsey and Publicker in Phila.

These are for me a big part of the History of the Distilling industry as with out them the danger would be very Bad. They varied in styles and operation but their goal was to prevent explosions by open electric fixtures and we never had a explosion in all of Kinsey History. They were mostly Crouse Hinds and Appleton Electric, but GE made some also and I have a rare GE explosion proof switch from the plant.
Dave Z
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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

Re: My Memories of Kinsey Distilling

lts going on Thanksgiving and Christmas 2012, so lets take a trip from my memory back to the day before Christmas wed Dec 24, 1969. I am now working in the warehouses and that year was a very good year from my memory for fine spirits of all kinds made by Continental Distilling. The last of the New Years whiskys are being loaded in trucks and rail cars. The dock at the front of the 1966 bottlng house has 3 rail cars and 10 trucks being loaded in the early part of the day as after lunch there was if any very little work going on! As I travel with my Gang I am handed a 1/2 Pint of whisky early in the day, I made the desion to pretend to drink it while I watched Humanity at work. All the work needed to be done was done I would say by 10:00 Am. Before Lunch the Governmen men and most of the plant were really drinking.

By lunch the soda machine had run out of Ginger ale and other sodas were disappearing fast. We sat around just talking about the coming one day Holiday with much joy, as the people those days were just Hard working people who really enjoyed the few days they got off. We got just the day of Christmas off Paid those days and if you had saved some vacation you could take more. We sat drinking and playing Dice in the warehouse and the company people just left us alone. It Had been a good year for sales and right then the future looked bright.
No one could know that in 7 Years 1976 Mr Neuman would die and it would be as if the heart of what made it work was gone forever.

I always felt very sure of having work as Long as Si Neuman was alive, He took the company in its early days from 8 people to 5,000 employees so seeing him come up from time to time made you feel full of hope. By the end of the day I was about the only person who was sober, and it was so interesting just watching. I saw people falling down and walking very bad but no one got hurt and by the time the day was over no one left that got in any kind of driving trouble. As I pulled out of the lot at the end of the day, Security Leaned out of the Guard box and looking a little loaded said Have a good Holiday!

They were such simple times back then people took care of each other anyone who could not drive was taken home by someone they worked with and even though we only had Thursday off and had to work Friday we were truely Thankful for our coming Holiday with the Holiday meal and family. Back then I had a living family and mom always made the most wonderful roasted Turkey and all the goodies and home made Apple Pie. I wish everyone who is young that read here could go to those times for just one week like Christmas week to see How different and better those days were. We did not have alot of money but we were content. And most of all we Lived in the home of the brave and the land of the free.
Dave Z / Christmas eve Wed Dec 24 1969 == Kinsey Distillery ==
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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

Re: My Memories of Kinsey Distilling

I think we got a turkey for Christmas, but can't really remember much about it Jono, I will call Ludy and ask if he remembers. Today I gave my Friend who has wired most of my Explosion proof Lights one of the Warehouse signs Ethan helped me to get. Warehouse S which is 3rd to the last out back! Pictures

1. & 2. are the sign I gave to Paul, he is adding it to other things I have given him for all his help in preserving all my explosion proof lights! Also I find by giving stuff to selected people they will keep the History of Kinsey and Publicker / Continental Distilling alive after I am long gone. My one goal is to preserve the History of the Company.

Thanks to Ethan for helping me to save the sign I gave Paul and warehouse M's sign in my garage for History. The place is getting so bad there is little left to save. I am hoping to go there again this weekend by myself and in the near future with Ethan again! Paul is going to schlack the sign and put a steel cord on the back and hang it in his wreck room!

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think the place would be gone and it would be up to me to save artifacts from it for History. Strange how things happen. These signs hung there on the buildings since 1946/47 the year I was born and they were built, so they are as old as me, 65 years old, and still surviving with the good old oil base paint that preserved them! Charlie Sipler painted them when ever they needed touch up and they are still the tradional White and blue they were when I started there in SEPT 1966. Charlie would roar around the plant in his Model A buggy with 100 hp Ford flat head motor, no roof or fenders just a old padded chair boalted on the frame and a folding chair boalted on the passenger side and a homemade wood flat bed in the back. He would fl every time when he took off in the mornning to do paint and building repairs.
Dave Z
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It Seems All the Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

Re: My Memories of Kinsey Distilling

Tonight before I go to bed I am drinking a shot of something totally rare and amazing Philadelphia Straight Rye Distilled in 1941 and Bottled in 1946. my friend who ran marketing gave me an old corked bottle of this and I removed the cork and filtered it through a brown coffee Filter 2 years ago and every once in a while I will have a shot of it. It reinforces my thoughts that Old Whisky is so much better then anything made new today! And it is a whiskey I had never knew exsisted.
No Rye Whiskey I have had of the modern stuff can compare to the old ryes we made, too much filtering and to much computer making has taken so much from Whiskey. I love the old style of the distiller making the judgement over a computer!
Dave Z
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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

Re: My Memories of Kinsey Distilling

Here is a picture of the Last one of the Old Dsp-pa-12 Distillery Buildings the Old Grain Process Building. On the right still side was the tunnel room we sat in at breaks in the yard gang and the bathroom was in the Grain building. There is an old set of Lockers sitting where the roof was sitting outside now that the still is torn down.

The Old Grain Process building after the DSP-PA-12 Distiller was my Second favorite Old building with its coupalo on the top built in around 1892 it and whats left of Warehouse A is all that is left of that time and place.

I put it here in Celabration of Christmas Past working at Kinsey in a much simpler times and a time where People wanted to work and earn their Living. And Of The Famous RittenHouse Rye Made at Kinsey till spring 1951.
Also in memory of Old Hickory Straight Bourbon!

Merry Christmas to All
Dave Z
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It Seems All The Nicest people Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon